“The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.”
Arguments
#1)
"In a billion billion billion years, everything will have come and gone several times, in various forms. Even I will be gone. A certain man will absurdly kill me. A terrible pity-loss of a remarkable form of life. Conservationists will howl."
(Page 70)
1) During the conversation with Grendel dragons tells him important lessons that changes Grendel for the entire novel.
2) This shows that existence is meaningless and that every creature on universe will eventually gone including himself as well.
#2)
"Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all."
(Last sentence of the book)
1) Again this idea emphesizes dragon's idea that nothing in universe is eternal and that all living things face death eventually.
2) Grendel states this after he fights the Beowulf and about to face death.
#3)
"Gods, gods!" she screamed. I waited to see if the gods would come, but not a sign of them. I laughed. She called to her brother then Unferth. They hung back. I decided to kill her." (Page 109)
1) This quote matches dragon's idea that god does not exist and that human can't believe that god doesn't exist.
2) Humans have no vision and they only know what they are familiar with. Letter Reflection
John Gardner’s letter gave me better understanding of his interpretation of the characters and the philosophy that each characters hold. I also learned that dragon’s idea reflect on Nihilism. John Gardner states on his letter that although Grendel died he could of at least lived his life. All he had to do is accept the “Imaginary values” that humans imposed like heroism. However he does not chose to live with the “Imaginary value” instead he decides to be a monster and viciously and violently kill human and believe in Dragon’s philosophy that states “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters." Another point that John Gardner mention is how he uses the characters to explain various kind of philosophy. He also mentions that one character does not explain all the philosophy. Through various kinds of Characters (Grendel, Dargon, Ork, Shaper, Beowulf) he explain his philosophy. Overall his letter helped me get more understanding of the book Grendel and each characters as well as the philosophy that each characters hold.
Trial
“The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.”
Arguments
#1)
"In a billion billion billion years, everything will have come and gone several times, in various forms. Even I will be gone. A certain man will absurdly kill me. A terrible pity-loss of a remarkable form of life. Conservationists will howl."
(Page 70)
1) During the conversation with Grendel dragons tells him important lessons that changes Grendel for the entire novel.
2) This shows that existence is meaningless and that every creature on universe will eventually gone including himself as well.
#2)
"Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all."
(Last sentence of the book)
1) Again this idea emphesizes dragon's idea that nothing in universe is eternal and that all living things face death eventually.
2) Grendel states this after he fights the Beowulf and about to face death.
#3)
"Gods, gods!" she screamed. I waited to see if the gods would come, but not a sign of them. I laughed. She called to her brother then Unferth. They hung back. I decided to kill her." (Page 109)
1) This quote matches dragon's idea that god does not exist and that human can't believe that god doesn't exist.
2) Humans have no vision and they only know what they are familiar with.
Letter Reflection
John Gardner’s letter gave me better understanding of his interpretation of the characters and the philosophy that each characters hold. I also learned that dragon’s idea reflect on Nihilism. John Gardner states on his letter that although Grendel died he could of at least lived his life. All he had to do is accept the “Imaginary values” that humans imposed like heroism. However he does not chose to live with the “Imaginary value” instead he decides to be a monster and viciously and violently kill human and believe in Dragon’s philosophy that states “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters." Another point that John Gardner mention is how he uses the characters to explain various kind of philosophy. He also mentions that one character does not explain all the philosophy. Through various kinds of Characters (Grendel, Dargon, Ork, Shaper, Beowulf) he explain his philosophy. Overall his letter helped me get more understanding of the book Grendel and each characters as well as the philosophy that each characters hold.